Everyday Hero
by Mystie Paws
Summary: Mira wasn't anything special. She didn't have wild magic. Her Gift wasn't very strong. She wasn't destined for greatness. She's just...Mira, a girl with big dreams. Fate had decided that she would not be a hero, but she's going to prove that fate was wron


A/N: Anything written like this: ~example~ is a flashback. Sadly, the stuff you recognize isn't mine, it belongs to Tamora Pierce.  
  
Like Veralidaine Sarrasri, I was born in Snowsdale, Galla. Like Keladry of Mindelan, I had all the odds against me. Like Alanna the Lioness, I have a healing Gift. I have so much in common with Tortall's heroes, so what sets me apart? The fact that my destiny was to be a nobody.  
  
I can remember a night 20 years ago. I was 6 on the night that a seer came to Snowsdale. . .  
  
~Mira was swinging around a branch, hitting imaginary enemies with her "sword".  
  
"And Lady Knight Mira wins the war for the honor and glory of Tortall!" she announced. Just then, a girl around Mira's age, Leah, came running over.  
  
"Mira, Mira, come quick!" Leah exclaimed, "There's a seer come to Snowsdale!"  
  
So Mira and her best friend took off running down the dirt path. A seer had come! It was a big deal because travelers rarely came to their little village. They found the seer-an elderly lady with long, silvery hair-under an oak tree, and elbowed their way through the swarm of people to get to her.  
  
"Hello, little ones," The woman said to Mira and Leah. She turned to Mira and said, "I have seen parts of your future, little one. You have big dreams, an admirable quality, however, you will never be a hero."  
  
"Wh-what? Meanin' no disrespect, grandmother, but mayhap you're mistaken?" Mira's voice came out as a barely audible squeak.  
  
"I am sorry, little one, but it is your fate. One cannot change fate," she replied with pity in her eyes~  
  
After that, I ran off and climbed into my favorite tree. I sat there for a long time, crying. I can still remember the seer's words to this day.  
  
From that day on, people seemed to treat me differently. It was as if they thought I was worthless, all because that woman thought she was doing me a favor by telling me of my future. Some particularly nasty people even gave me a nickname: Mira the nobody.  
  
After 10 long years, I decided that I would do something about it. . .  
  
~Mira got on her horse, Whisper, and was about to ride out of Snowsdale when she heard someone calling her.  
  
"Mira, where you goin'?" asked Leah.  
  
"Away," was Mira's reply.  
  
"Well, when you come back, let's go swimmin' in the creek," said Leah.  
  
Mira sighed. Leah was one of the few things that she'd miss about Snowsdale. Leah was her best friend and one of the only ones who still believed in her.  
  
"Leah, you don't get it. I'm going as far away from this village and it's people as I can get, and I'm never coming back," Mira said softly, "G'bye"  
  
Then Mira kicked Whisper into a gallop. Her plan had been to go to the palace in Tortall to become a knight, but that was seeming less and less likely. Who am I kidding? She thought to herself, I'm 16. That's too old to start training as a page~  
  
So I kept riding, thinking that once I got to the palace, everything would work out. I'd become a page, then be Lady Keladry's squire, and then I'd become a knight and do all sorts of wonderful things, but it never happened that way. . .  
  
~Mira gave Whisper to a stableboy, along with a copper coin, and told him to be sure to give her extra oats. That done, she went into the inn.  
  
"Just wondering, what fief are we in?" Mira asked the innkeeper.  
  
He just stood there staring at her strangely for a while. Finally he said, "You ain't from 'round here, are you?" We be in Dunlath."  
  
"You're right, I'm not from around here," she said.  
  
"Would you like to rent a room?" the innkeeper asked.  
  
"No, I'm not stayin' in Dunlath long, but if you could just point me toward the pa-" Mira was cut off when a woman ran in, carrying a little boy with what looked like a broken leg.  
  
"Is anyone here a healer?" she asked, frantic.  
  
"I'm a healer," Mira told her.  
  
The lady ran over to her. "Please, can you help my son? I think he broke his leg. I don't got any money to pay for payment, but please, miss, help my son?" she said.  
  
Just then, Mira realized that both the lady and her son were dressed in filthy rags. "Sure, I'll try to heal your son," Mira said warmly.  
  
Mira looked at the boy's leg, it didn't seem too bad. Soon, she was at work, mending the bone and making it stronger, her pale blue Gift flowing from her hands. To Mira, it seemed like an eternity later when she finally finished.  
  
"Thank you, thank you so much," the woman said as she and her son went on their way.  
  
And for the first time in a long while, Mira felt valued. She walked back up to the innkeeper. "On second thought," she said, "Maybe I will be staying in Dunlath a bit longer. How much does a room cost?"~  
  
Turns out, I did stay in Dunlath a while longer. I'm now Dunlath's chief healer, and plan to be for a very long time. That seer and her words that haunted me for 10 years of my life were wrong. I am a hero, an ordinary hero. I may never have my name in legends, and I may never be sung about, but I'm still a hero.  
  
And no matter what I do, or how many people I heal, I will always remember that day. The day that I proved fate wrong and changed my destiny.  
  
A/N: So what do you guys think? Tell me in a review!! 


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